Man boasts of choking student

A homeless man who choked and smothered a US college student reportedly celebrated his killing by settling down on his victim's couch to watch the horror movie Saw.

Jeromie Cancel, who police and family describe as homeless and mentally unstable, confessed to the crime after he was arrested.

In a disturbing scene during the arrest, the self-professed murderer shouted at reporters he had killed Kevin Pravia "'cause I wanted to".

"Y'all got problems with that?" Cancel yelled, smirking and chuckling as he was led away in handcuffs.

After entering Pravia's Manhattan apartment on Saturday, Cancel allegedly stuffed a bag into the 19-year-old student's mouth and wound a TV cord around his neck before suffocating him, US media report.

Police say Cancel, 22, then watched the bloody film as Pravia lay dead on a bed nearby.

Cancel left Pravia's apartment the next morning after stealing the student's iPod, laptop and cell phone, police say.

Detectives are still trying to determine a motive for the apparently senseless killing but it is believed the men met on the street while Pravia was trying to buy drugs.

Cancel's father, Jesus Soto, told The New York Post his son is "mentally imbalanced".

Soto said he had not seen his son for more than a decade before Cancel contacted him earlier this year.

Cancel had visited him and confessed to having just killed someone.

"He had no remorse"¦.he had a big smile," Soto said.

"I called the cops, and when they pulled up . . . he just turned to the cops and told them he just killed someone."